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How does my lawyer go about getting evidence suppressed from my federal case?
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How Does My Lawyer Go About Getting Evidence Suppressed From My Federal Case?
Getting evidence thrown out in a federal criminal case can be tricky, but your lawyer has a few options depending on the situation. I’ll walk through some of the main ways a good defense attorney can get damaging evidence suppressed before your trial.
File a Motion to Suppress
The most common way for a lawyer to get evidence excluded is to file a written request called a motion to suppress. This asks the judge to keep out evidence that was obtained illegally or in violation of your Constitutional rights. For example, if the police searched your home without a warrant, your attorney could argue that the search was improper and all evidence found should be suppressed.
Your lawyer may file a motion to suppress for a few common reasons:
- Your rights under the 4th Amendment were violated (illegal search or seizure)
- Your 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination was violated (you weren’t Mirandized properly)
- Your 6th Amendment right to an attorney was denied
- Evidence was obtained through entrapment or other police misconduct
The motion has to clearly explain the legal basis for suppression and provide supporting facts. Your lawyer may need affidavits or testimony from witnesses. If the judge agrees your rights were violated, the evidence will be excluded from trial.
Challenge the Warrant
If evidence was seized from your home or business with a search warrant, your attorney can try to get it thrown out by legally challenging the warrant itself. This means picking apart the warrant application and showing there was no probable cause or reasonable suspicion for police to get the warrant in the first place.
For example, if the warrant was based on an anonymous tip that turned out to be false, your lawyer can argue the warrant was invalid and evidence should be suppressed. Attacking the warrant takes precision and attention to detail but can get results.
Object at Trial
Your lawyer may also try to exclude evidence by filing objections during the trial itself. When the prosecutor tries to introduce a piece of questionable evidence, your attorney can stand up and argue it should be excluded based on your Constitutional rights. This draws the judge’s attention to issues right as the evidence is being presented instead of months earlier in a pretrial motion.
Objecting this way might work if there’s a last-minute discovery of how the evidence was obtained illegally. But it’s always best for your lawyer to attack the evidence early on through a motion to suppress before trial.
Request a Franks Hearing
If your case involves a search warrant that was based on false or misleading information, your attorney can request a special hearing under Franks v. Delaware to challenge the warrant. At this hearing, your lawyer has to show that:
- There was a deliberate false statement made in the warrant application, or
- Important information was deliberately left out
If your lawyer succeeds, the judge may throw out evidence obtained with an invalid warrant. But Franks hearings have detailed requirements so your attorney needs to thoroughly understand the case law.
Exploit Legal Loopholes
For tricky cases, an experienced federal defense lawyer will get creative looking for new ways to get evidence suppressed. There may be cutting-edge legal arguments or loopholes to exploit even if the evidence was obtained legally. For example, your attorney could:
- Argue there was no chain of custody for critical DNA or video evidence
- Challenge the reliability or methodology behind an expert witness report
- Claim prosecutors improperly instructed police how to collect certain evidence
An aggressive defense lawyer leaves no stone unturned in finding creative angles to get evidence thrown out pre-trial. Because without that evidence, the prosecution’s case could fold.
Negotiate a Plea Deal
As a last resort, your attorney may be able to negotiate with prosecutors to get charges dropped or reduced in exchange for a guilty plea. If the suppressed evidence significantly hurts their case, they may offer a better plea deal rather than go to trial with a weak case.
Of course getting charges dismissed entirely is ideal. But sometimes a plea to lesser charges is the best realistic option after your lawyer fights to suppress evidence behind the scenes. Every case is different.
Don’t Wait Too Long
It’s important to have an experienced federal defense lawyer challenge questionable evidence early through motions and hearings. Evidence that isn’t objected to promptly may be argued as admissible later on. So contacting a lawyer quickly when facing federal charges can increase the odds of getting key evidence thrown out.
Suppressing evidence through various legal procedures is a key defense strategy in federal cases. An adept lawyer knows how to attack illegal searches, faulty warrants, Constitutional violations, and other procedural defects at the optimal time. Getting critical evidence excluded from trial could make or break your case.